A Third, And Final? Draft

A Third, And Final? Draft

As I promised in my prior post, the below list describes the main issues that need to be resolved in this third draft of "The Majik of Spark" based on the feedback I received from our writer's group. I've already begun work on it, but I'll have to set a feverish pace to have it ready for the conference. The changes will take significant work, but the majority of the story is still intact. There is no need for a complete rewrite, for example. Here are the areas I am working on:

The Main Character: The story opens with the character Jaundice. Naming conventions aside, no one liked the name or it's connotation. After a little resistance on my part, I had to agree. The name will be changed. More significantly, though, is that while Jaundice is an important character, she's not the main character. As the story evolved it became more and more apparent that the real main character is Philly. Philly is not introduced to the reader until deeper into the story, so I am going to alter and reorder the beginning chapters to put Philly front and center.

The Early Chapters: The group concurred with my concern over the lack of plot progression in the early chapters. The consensus was that there was too much information and not enough action. That I can definitely take care of. There was also a lack of focus on the purpose and goals of the expedition that the story centered on. This is my biggest challenge. Frankly, I changed those goals mid-stream during the second draft and obviously did not get it right. I know what I want, I just have to figure out how to get there.

Trilogy vs Satisfying Conclusion: The "Majik of Spark" is the first book of a proposed trilogy. I wanted to end the book with a cliff hanger to encourage readers to want to read the next one. Simply stated, I overdid it. When readers actually get angry at the ending of the story, the writer had better pay attention. In one sense I was happy that I could strike such a nerve, but I knew I had better come up with an ending that left the reader in a better frame of mind. What prompted that anger? Too many things were left hanging with no resolution. Cliff hangers are fine, but the book must have some sense of closure. It must be able to stand on it's own, with it's own, satisfying ending, even though it's the first part of a trilogy.

Writing a novel is a messy business. Getting under the hood like this and sharing where I went wrong is a little unnerving. My hope is that by sharing I might save someone out there from making some of these same mistakes. I certainly learned one important lesson - Writer's group help and writing buddies are a must and a treasure!

What do you think?